Red Light
by AccelGo
Summary: Dawn, May, Misty, Leaf, and Winter work in a popular strip club for their personal reasons. Love is too dangerous to be in at this point but... Is that the truth? They meet 5 men along their journey to make ends meet. [Ikarishipping, Contestshipping, Pokeshipping, Oldrivalshipping, and OCxRiley] "M" for sexual themes and Language.
1. Introduction pt1

**very slowly talks... I'm a sucker for stripper AUs I'm sincerely sorry im going to rot.**

 **I wanted to have a story i could write while I worked on Tigerhead because I'm a lazy bum who sucks at everything I do. Also I wanted to use this to teach yall a lil something abt Feminism because I'm a Inter-Galactic Feminist Faerie.**

 **Same pairings as before, i wanted Winter in here too though. This story moves slower than Tigerhead, not every character will be featured in each chapter.**

 **Themes are darker, there WILL be smut/"Lemons"/NSFW (later on), and heavy-than-usual language. for now we just have suggestive themes and the such.**

* * *

 **AGES-**

 **Dawn- 20**

 **Paul- 22**

 **May- 20**

 **Drew- 22**

 **Misty- 23**

 **Ash- 23**

 **Leaf- 19**

 **Gary- 20**

 **Winter- 19**

 **Riley- 21**

* * *

This club was specifically- a strip club. Decorated royally with high colors inside and out; It was okay. But, there were other things you could distract yourself with once inside. The wonderful ladies on top of the stage, their bodies flush against the cold metal of the golden pole. Six-inch stilettos with heels so sharp they could be considered a registered weapon, Panties so tight they could choke someone, all size chests bare with all color nipples, exposed to the musty, smoke filled air. The Club managed to climb its way up to the most extravagant in the area all because of 5 girls. These 5 girls were the face of this club, this club that required reservations a week earlier just to get in for 3 hours. The name of the club was "PlayPoke" respectively- The most popular in all of the states. This club is what a guy dreams of going to before he's either hitched or dead.

"Lady Berlitz, you're wanted in one of the private rooms." She's disrupted from fixing her makeup by a guard from the side. She sighs. She just got back here...

"How much?" She asks, putting on her royal tone and puffing up one of her long, midnight blue locks.

"About 500, ma'am." He answers politely and if the accessory bunny ears were real, they would have perked up to the sound of money. She stands, fixes her corset, and follows the guard out into the crowd of drunk men. They all greet her, a few men kiss the back of her hand as if she were a queen, and she smiles back brightly. It's superficial, if anyone really knew her they would be able to tell its as fake as the props they had in each act, but they're convinced, and it only earns her a few one dollar bills in the back of her corset. She tucks them more securely for when she returns to her dressing room.

Soon, she's directly in front of a dark room, dark purple lights, a table, a booth around it. 6 men fill out the seats and she steps in. They stop their conversation to eye her up and down, and if she were new, she'd be embarrassed, but it's been two years now, she's gotten used to it.

"Berlitz! Honey! How are you?" the roughest figure gains her attention and she brightens up. He's short, shorter than her in the heels she's wearing today, but he's filled, a big belly thats soft even with the rough vest he wears, and a cowboy hat he's had ever since he became a customer, as so she's heard.

"Clay! How are you Daddy?" She wants to cringe at the title he's chosen for her to address him with, but she reminds herself she's doing this for a reason, and that manages to keep her still. He chuckles and ushers her to sit on her lap and she walks over and sits on what little lap space he has left with all that belly. He starts to converse with her, and he rubs at her backside. She hates it, but she suppresses the urge to punch him. Soon enough the door chime rings and there's another small worker. She's thick, the definition of a bombshell, with her hair cut in a way that made it look like she had two brown ponytails on each side of her head. The Bluenette smiles genuinely and the Brunette smiles back before she's pushed off Clay's lap and towards her co-worker.

"Wow, Sapphire you look stunning tonight! ...You guys look happy to see each other, give each other a little kiss why don't you? Show us that duo you show the other pigs onstage." Clay laughs and his friends follow along. They both stare at each other before nodding determinedly and giving each other a peck on the lips, followed by another few and a nip on the bottom lip is given to Berlitz by the other. The men cheer excitedly and start to give them orders for the rest of the night. If her co-worker wasn't with her she would have snapped 20 minutes in.

* * *

"I'm telling you May, you're my night in shining armor all the time. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't a duo with me. Clay is fucking disgusting." She's back in the main locker room with all the others, getting out her stage clothes and into her regular wear. May giggles.

"I know, I know Dawn, but remember- we have ulterior motives for being here. We have to make ends meet okay?" She presses a kiss to the cheek of her friend and continues trying to yank off her top. Dawn comes around to help her. "We're gonna make it someday and then we can quit. But for now we have to endure the pain... of these damn shoes! Ugh Dawn my feet have been killing me I can't wait to get into some flats and get the hell out of here my lungs are gonna die from all the smoke!" She gives a fake cough and Dawn starts to laugh.

May has been friends with Dawn ever since middle school. Anything one did, the other followed in support. No matter what, they made it through trials together. They were glad to have each other in their lives, it truly was a miracle. So when they both were in trouble they decided they needed to do something about it, and they submitted their applications together, to a club. They started off in a small, disgusting club. Training was boring, and it hurt them. They took pole fitness on the side, worked their way to a formidable skill level. They changed their diets (not like Dawn really needed to change hers, but more May, because she was plump), and took every opportunity to get where they are today. Dawn was determined to make things work. She was going to do it no matter what. And so was May. For their own separate reasons.

They payed the club their shares of what they earned, and walked out the back of the club, beginning to walk to catch their modes of transportation. May had gotten to her bus stop and said her goodbyes to Dawn, and Dawn started her walk to the train station.

plop... plop...plop.

Dawn's eyelashes caught a few rain drops... _Not this again..._ Dawn frowned. _Rain always likes to stomp on my parade... Bastard._ She thinks. This is just her luck. her backpack isn't very thick, her money is going to get soaked and then she'll have to peel each bill apart and leave them to air dry... there are too many to be doing that. Despite her aching feet, she starts to run as the rain gets thicker and thicker. She can see the entrance to the subway, its so far yet so close- and she trips. But before she can feel the cold, hard ground on her cheek, she's caught in strong arms. Strong tan arms, attached to a purple shirt, attached to a handsome face under an umbrella. She blinks a few times before standing up straight.

"I'm so sorry for falling into you-"

"I saw you falling so I came to help you." He says harshly, and she blinks again. "Here." He shoves his umbrella into her hands and she's about to protest until he interrupts her. "I have a spare at home. Besides, you seem like you have places to go. Bye." He turns and leaves, just like that. and Dawn is left there, stunned, gaping at his retreating figure before her phone rings from a text message and she checks her time. She's gonna be late, crap! She runs off towards the subway and makes right before they close the doors. All the way back home she could only think about that guy.

* * *

A redhead is still picking up her ones and flattening her hair down from the humidity of the backstage room. "Good job Cerulean"s were heard all the way back to the locker room, and she felt accomplished today, despite all the potential bad-touches she could have gotten, if her guard was not around to help her. She was the only one left in the back, save for two others she knew very well- Blizzard and Evee. They were both helping each other out of their costumes and complaining about how itchy they were.

"Leaf, Winter. Cut it out already. We get it, the outfits were itchy but you both need to chill out and just get out of them." She snapped at them and they got quiet.

"Misty, you try wearing the underwater mistress costume- whoever made these bands need to be fired from the facility!" Winter complained some more and Misty chuckled.

"I have, plenty of times. You get used to it, don't worry about it." She reassured them. "Hurry up because I don't want you two walking out alone. I'm taking you guys to your buses."

Winter only needed to walk a short distance. She liked the rain, unless she wasn't covered up. But she was in sweatpants, and a nice cozy cotton jacket. Her sneakers splashed against the small puddles gathered in the dents of the sidewalk, and her hair was frizzing- but she didn't mind. She was taking a different route home today, not that Misty or Leaf knew per say, but she was going to take her time to get home today.

Leaf held her umbrella tight, until her knuckles were white. She hated storms sooo bad. It was bad enough that May and Dawn left already but the storm was reallyyyy bad this time. Luckily, Misty was with her, as her rock, and Winter was already on her bus back home. She thinks about the essay she has due tomorrow, and how would dock her points so bad she'd be in the danger zone of grades. She's not good at History- or at least this type of History. All her other classes were fine, it was just this one that seemed to get her stumped all the time. She really wishes she chose a different field to work in but she's too far into college to stop now. Misty snaps her out her thoughts.

"Do you need help with your essay? I know a bit about that type of history." She offers. "If you're not too tired, I could come over tonight. I don't see the harm in helping you." She smiles condescendingly, and Leaf sparkles, if thats even possible. Misty always had her back... like this. She'd offer her money for Leaf's bus tickets and would buy her food, even though she must want to do something more with the cash she earned. She was so grown up and responsible. Leaf had to wonder why Misty wasn't off somewhere with a great paying job, hitched up with some beautiful person on the beachside. She made Leaf feel like she was a child again. Not that it was a bad thing, no, she liked the feeling of everything handed to her in a kind tone like back when she was younger. She felt like Misty could be a great mom.

When they made it home, they finished Leaf's essay and fell asleep, cuddled together in Leaf's "bed".

* * *

Winter made sure she had everything she needed and waltzed out the place she called her home. Today she was going to do volunteer work to help replant flowers around the riverbanks. The required tools were, a bucket, a gardening shovel, and clothes she didn't mind getting dirty. Perfect. She slipped on her high top sneakers and started her walk towards the state forest. Although she hated the bugs who lived around the forest (The Mosquitos were the worst about it all, They were fucking HUGE since they're forest mosquitos), She needed to get something good on her case.

The sun was shining just as harsh as any other day in this city, not exactly burning her skin, because the Melanin in her skin protected her, but it may as well have started to burn her because it was REALLY HOT. She wipes a bead of sweat off her forehead and continues to tread on towards her destination.

"Hey you, girl!" A man's voice brings her out her thoughts and the looks over to see a construction site. At first she cant locate his voice until he calls again, and there he is, looking up at her from in a gross, deep, ditch. He's quite the looker, too. "Hi! Could you do me a favor and throw down that tool by your foot? I need it." He asks and she scoffs.

"Maybe if you didn't call me _girl_ I would." She faked being a bitch and crossed her arms stubbornly. He clicked his tongue in response.

"Okay. Would you mind throwing down my tool for me, _Ma'am_?" He asked and she picked up the weird looking tool before throwing it, not caring where it landed, until-

The Steel hit him SMACK DAB in the middle of his forehead. He cringed at first, not registering the pain until after a few seconds. Then he starts screaming, loudly, cradling his forehead in his dirty, gloved hands. He was bleeding, too, if you needed more emphasis. Winter squeaks.

"Ohhhhh my God I didn't mean to do th-" She stepped a bit too close to the hole and the dirt underneath her collapsed, sending her sliding down into the ditch with him, and landing on her ass with a big _thud_. And _oh how that hurt_. But her ass wasn't as important, aside from her stripping career, as the man in front of him infecting his Winter-caused wound. She rummaged in her purse and pulled out disinfectant (you never know when you'll need it,) and sat in front of him, jerking his hand away from his forehead and spraying it without warning. He screamed louder, and Winter covered his mouth. "Chill out," she told him and he got quieter. She took her hand off his mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't want the wound to get infected." she laughed.

"Well _thanks._ " he sighs and she giggles more, with a small _you're welcome_.

She looks up towards the edge of the ditch.

"Are we stuck?" She asks and he shakes his head.

"No, I have some workers coming to fork me up in about 5 minutes. Don't worry." He's standing, and he offers a hand for Winter. She takes it, and brushes her clothes off. "Whats with the getup, though? "Happy, Joy-py, Nice to Meetcha-py?" he reads the big bold letters on her shirt and she pouts.

"I was gonna volunteer before all this happened today- And don't disrespect Joseph Joestar, He's the greatest Hero with canon ADHD to ever live!" she fumes, her being a big fan of The JoJo series. He chuckles. "Anyway, I'm Winter. Nice to meet you." She holds out her hand, and he looks her over before taking her hand firmly.

"Riley. Same to you," He smirks.

"RILEY, WHOS THE CHICK WITH YOU DOWN THERE? HOW'D SHE GET DOWN THERE?" a booming voice calls from above them and there's a red head with glasses peering down at them.

"She slipped in, don't worry Roark. She's fine. Just get us out of here, I'm melting." And theres a ladder, lowered into the ditch.

Once out of the ditch, Winter taps Riley's shoulder.

"Since all this happened because of your forgetfulness of your necessary tools, you owe me dinner. Give me your cell." She demanded and he sighed, but complied anyway.

"Is this you asking me on a date? Cause if so, I would have never known." He chuckled and she smacked his shoulder.

"I don't date guys with big bloody wounds on their foreheads, haha. Lets get italian whenever we both have clear schedules." she tells him. "I want the most expensive in the city-"

"No way in hell. But you should get on your way now, uh-"

"Winter."

"Yeah, Winter. See you never probably." He laughs and turns back into his blueprints and Winter skips off.

That was a nice encounter.

* * *

"Dawn, I heard Clay gave you a lot of money last time? How much did you get?" Misty asked, fastening the buckles on her skimpy top, and untangling the multiple string that decorated it. Dawn was in Misty's personal dressing room, rummaging through her costume box for _'Imagination Thursday'_ , a day where all workers dress up as something out of ordinary.

"About 500 at first, then later I got business from his friends, so maybe I ended up with 800?" She shrugged and Misty whistled. Dawn was pulling two articles of clothing apart, with not luck. The redhead made her way towards her to untangle it for her and earned a small thanks.

"Next time make sure to share some with me," When Dawn was about to protest, Misty pulled the string on her thong back and snapped it back into place. Dawn yelped. "Just kidding~!"

"DAWN!" The familiar voice of her partner rang through the room. "DAWN MY BOOBS ARE SO BIG THEY BROKE THE TOP WHERES THE CLIPS," May asked, and when the other two girls turned back to her, they started laughing so hard their eye makeup almost smudged. Winter and Leaf, who happened to be walking by started laughing as well. "WHAT?!" She demanded, stomping her heels a few times.

"M... May where did you get _that_ thing?!" Misty asked, dabbing slightly at her makeup so it didn't smudge. Sitting on the top of May's head was a horse head hat prop. She tilted her head, and so did the snout of the damned hat. Misty snorted. "We have horse ears, go get those and get that _godawful_ thing off your head,"

May pouted, but complied.

"So you both are doing a duo show today? The people out there must feel extra special." Misty commented. Dawn was a scantily-clad cowgirl, and May was apparently the horse. "Better give them a show they'll never forget. Also if you see Winter again before that, tell her I need her." She smiled, and they both nodded.

 _The Spotlight was burning against they skin_.

But it was more of a warm day, compared to the scorching 100 degrees of attention that was being put on them. They slowly entered the rink, walking slowly, _almost sluggish_ , dragging each foot behind the other, their hips swaying with each step. Dawn looks over to May when she reaches the pole, and May blows her kiss. Slowly, Dawn lifts herself up the pole, her hands supporting all her weight, until she flips upside down and her legs take the lead. May's behind her, running her hands slowly down Dawn's torso. The crowd is staring wide-eyed. May lifts herself up the pole, higher than the bluenette, and right-side-up. She tugs Dawn upwards by her hair gently, and dawn is pressed flat against her. They let out a display, one that simply could not be described in words- But it's entrancing, and it pulls everyone in, and it makes Ol' Crasher Wake go quiet for the first time in his life, presumably. By now the stage is clouded with ones, and They both feel triumphant.

After the show, men are flocked around them as they're linked by their arms. Giving them compliments, prodding at them for details which they don't give out, and asking them for private dances. They refuse, since they're off from work from performing together, and promise them the next time they make a reservation, they could ask.

The locker room is full of other workers, complimenting them and talking to them. There's a few new girls who ask for pointers and they talk about those and then the locker room slowly gets quieter.

"Good show?"

"Good show. You're the best friend anyone could ever ask for, May!" Dawn hugs her friend and they start to get dressed.

* * *

 **lmao sorry im so trashy i just needed this in my life tho.**

 **Misty, Leaf, and May didn't have the biggest roles this chapter, sorry! More info will be in the next chapter.**

 **If my story is something you do not like reading, please refrain from anon hate and click off the screen!**

 **Reviews and Favorites are appreciated!**

 **-ACCEL**


	2. Introduction pt2

**This fic is centered around all the girls, but Dawn and May have the most prominent roles. Each chapter will not feature everyone, but everyone will have a chapter. This fic will contain smut/NSFW/"Lemons" in the future, and I will warn when those scenes will come up. Please Enjoy your stay! If this is something you do not like reading, do not anon hate, click off the story and find another. Thank you.**

* * *

 **Truth is i barely beta'd the last chapter sorry lol it took me 2 days to write it though because I'm not good with the "Over 1,500 words" stuff. Last chapter was around 3,500 words so thats why it took 2 days.**

 **Also! Thank you so much for the review! I'm not the best at writing summaries, I apologize, haha... But I'm glad I could deliver quality to you! I was going to focus on May and Dawn overall, but I feel like I need to let my readers get a good grip on whats going on in the others' lives. I hope I can continue to bring enjoyment to you, Sirenskin!**

 **I apologize about how this chapter goes, We're getting all the characters introduced here! I don't mean to do this but we need everyone to be introduced.**

 **Here we go~**

* * *

Leaf slowly... slowly handed her paper to . Slowly. Slow enough that he had to snatch it from her. She was very nervous about this paper, since she had such limited time to write it. The young genius smirks while skimming over each of the 4 pages. Seeing that smile on his face makes her wish he was dumb, and that she had gotten his grandfather instead. She's met his grandfather on a few occasions around the resource offices, and he seems nice... at least nicer than this bastard in front of her. What side of the family does that come from?

"Well Leafy," He hums triumphantly and she almost breaks out into a cold sweat (aside from wanting to throw up from the nickname). "Seems like you win once again this time. Although, I'll give you some pointers on certain parts..." He starts to talk, pointing at certain sentences, and she zones out in relief.

His name was Gary Oak. He was 20 years old... How is he working at a college? Well he's like the real life version of Jimmy Neutron. He was out of high school when he was really young, was all she was told, was all she heard around the campus. They only talked about him so much cause he's attractive. She means- he wears dress shirts that accent his muscles, probably on purpose, that harlot. But they didn't know _him_. Apparently, _somehow_ they got close enough, or comfortable enough, for him to show his true colors. The smirk he's giving her says Conceited and Narcissistic, while the one he gives all the other girls says Charming and Kind.

"Leaf." He snaps in front of her and she blinks out her daydream. "Fantasizing about me? How lewd." He chuckles boyishly and leans back in his hair when she tries to throttle him.

"Absolutely not, You're not my type!" She huffs.

"Hmm, thats what they all say." He chuckles. "Follow me, I need to give you some some papers, but they're at the copying machine." He gets up and Leaf follows.

The walk to the staff room is a quiet one. And Gary is matching her pace so they walk side by side. The girls she passes look horribly jealous, like their hair would start moving on its own and probably end her time with him (she really hoped this would happen, she'd rather die than be even see as his friend). But eventually they made it to the copying machine and Gary fumbles with the papers on the top until they're stapled together. He hands them to her without so much as a glance. When it's tucked into her backpack, he goes back into Sociable-Gary mode, talking about how he's going to hang with his friends on his birthday and go out for a mens night.

"Yeah, we were gonna go get something to eat, drink a little, don't tell anyone that, though. My birthday is in a week." he puts his finger over his mouth, leaning his elbows on the table in the café they had found themselves settled in. Leaf shakes her head.

"Don't worry. I've drunk quite a bit, I can't judge you." She tells him and stirs sugar in her bitter coffee.

"Oh really..? I kinda took you as the girl who had no friends and because of it was pure."

"Oh shut up. I work with my friends, and have no desire to make any here. Which means _you_." she pauses. "I don't like you." he fakes being hurt and she snorted.

"Well, I'm also gonna hit up some club to get lost in something. I need to wind down, you know?" He stares at Leaf's homework from across the table. "Being a professor is stressful. I have you horrible shits in and out of my class all the time." They both laughed. "So I'm going somewhere expensive where all the hot chicks are. Gonna try to take one home too." He winked at her and she made an ugly face.

"I'm not gonna be one of those girls so don't wink at me, you're a teacher."

* * *

May straightened the bow on top of her head, and proceeded to organize the shelf in front of her with vigor. When she finishes, she can close up the place with Sarah, and then start heading to the club. She's so exhausted from working here, at this damn retail store. Its almost always that she gets yelled at, not only by her boss, but by big fat customers, who think they can exchange a Nike coupon for Adidas. She works until 30 before her night shift, from 10am. So it's a good job, but still not enough to reach her goal. But she's close. She can feel it. And the closer she gets the more relieved she feels, the less tense she feels.

The door rings and May almost breaks down, but she turns with a smile to the man in front of her. He's taller than her by a few inches, and his hair is a pretty shade of green, along with his eyes. She's captivated for a second, until he speaks.

"I need to buy something. Is that okay?" He asks straight. His voice is like velvet.

"I'm sorry sir, but we are closed for the night." She replies, finishing the shelf and starting to walk towards the register to get files done from the register.

"Hmmm..." He puts his finger to his chin in thought, "What if I tipped you a little something? I'm in a rush." he asked. May's ears probably twitched.

"...You have my attention." slowly turning to him, she can see his smirk. He flips his hair and proceeds to make his way to the back of the store, out of her sight. She's a bit curious so she rounds the corner to watch him, rummaging through ugly shirts from the mens' section. It looks a bit silly; because his style is _way_ too good for a section like _that_. But he pulls out a striped button up shirt and makes his way through to the front, before looking uncertain and treading back.

This is amusing.

He comes back to the register with three ugly shirts now, and digs through his large pockets for his wallet. May rings everything up, and Sarah eyes her up from the toys section in confusion but May just smiles back.

"It comes up to about $49.95, sir." She tells him and he hands her his card. He mumbles something about _'50 bucks for these ugly things? What a disgrace.'_ and she almost bursts out in giggles.

"Here, take this as well." He scribbles something on a small piece of paper and hands it to her when he has his bag.

She inspects the paper. It's his signature. She then gapes at it... So it wasn't money?! What the hell is this? Is this guy famous or somethin'? Before she can even look up, he's out the door. Gone.

"Good going, May."

* * *

Today's special has them all bare chested. It's cold for their breasts, and they shiver when their tops are removed by high paying customers. This is only the third time the club has done something like this in the two years Dawn has worked here, and she's still really nervous about it. May assures her it'll be fine because they only work for 4 hours tonight. But there are some dangerous stares coming from some customers. May's undoubtedly nervous too, especially since she had the biggest breasts out of all of them. She works the pole with Misty tonight, Dawn and Leaf walk through the club, and Winter takes private dances.

"Berlitz, can you fill my glass over here?" a voice calls for her. It's calm and nasally, not too deep. It's Volkner. He sits in an open booth, being surrounded by the other workers in the building, smothering their tits over him and fighting for his attention. She wants to snort at him and say no, but she grabs the bottle of rum from the waitress carrying around drinks, and smooths her way over to his table, bending a little to fill his glass. He reaches up to her hair, taking a lock in his hand and letting it fall through his fingers. She looks up at him. "How are you doing Dawn?" He asks quietly so that other customers don't hear. She freezes.

"Berlitz, and I'm doing fine, Volkner. How are you?" She asks, standing up straight.

"Doing great, compared to someone I know." She knows who she's referring to. "What are you still doing here? In this dirty hell hole, being a slut for a large audience." He asks and she feels like she wants to throw up and die. "I offered you some help a few years back, remember? At least that would be more honorable than what you're doing right now."

"Volker, you know I can't do that. You're so young, trying to help me out. Live your li-"

"How would your _mother_ think? Knowing her daughter was helping her, but in this way."

"Volkn-"

"Or is it maybe you enjoy being a whore-"

" _Vol-"_

"Berlitz~! We have a birthday customer over here! Come along, bring the rest with you, we have to sing!" Leaf calls for her and Dawn's snapped back into the world, and smiles politely before walking off to the table where Leaf is to start singing happy birthday.

"Leaf you really saved my ass back there.." Dawn Hugs her friend, and Leaf laughs.

"Its okay. He's going to come around once in a while. And while we're all here, we have your back. We love you." She kisses her cheek. Dawn feels safe.

* * *

May was completely exhausted, so Dawn offered her a shoulder massage.

"Why did god decide to curse me with these huge things..." She whines while Dawn presses in on her wing bones. Dawn giggles.

"Because he knew you'd look good with them. Its the price you have to pay for beauty." She tells her and pushes at a particularly tense part, making May shiver and praise her. She giggles.

"Winter? Where are you going, looking all dressed up?" Misty walks in with Winter and Winter smiles.

"Well, I have a date tonight. At a really good restaurant, too!" She exclaims, and everyone goes quiet.

"If you're going on a date can you promise to not get hurt? You know how things are. He could be a customer trying to fuck you." Misty warns. Winter has a habit of rushing into things without evaluating the situation first. It's not so much of a bad thing, but not much of a good thing either. Misty is almost always looking out for her. Bad habits from high school stick; not that anyone went to high school with her, but they've heard stuff about her.

"I promise Misty. If he knew me he'd call me by my stage name when we met. His name is Riley and he owes me pasta, is all." She giggles. Leaf whistles.

"Well.. okay... Have fun," Misty laughs and smacks her butt on her way out.

* * *

On Dawn's way home, she stopped in a 24 hour café to get a coffee. The store was quiet, and she had time to wind down. She purposely missed her train to relax, the next one came in an hour and a half anyway. She got her mocha latte, and proceeded to find a corner to sit in and read something until she spotted a familiar figure. The man that helped her a few days ago was sitting there, reading a novel. She looked over his uniform. So he was a cop, huh... She made her way to his table, sitting down in front of him, prompting him to look up at her. She waved shyly.

"Didn't think I'd see you here. Thanks for the umbrella the other day."She smiled brightly at him and he sighed, and went back to reading his book.

How rude.

Here she is thanking him for his help, and being so kind to him when she could just sit somewhere else and leave him here to his purple loneliness. And he straight up ignores her when she's in such close proximity? How rude is he? He's just like every other cop, kind of no help, piggish. She tries to control her temper. She takes a deep breath in, and then out.

"Anyway, My name is Dawn. What's your name? I'd rather thank you by your name then _'you'_ or something like that." She looks over her nails, then peers at him from the side of her vision. She continues the process until he slams his book shut, sighing out and rubbing his temples.

"I came here to wind down in quiet after a long day. You're not helping, troublesome." He gives her a nickname already? How _cute_. She almost blows a fuse, and then her mind wins over her fist. 'Intellectual Problem-Solving' is used as a reminder for the bluenette. She instead, seems enamored by her thumbs, and twiddles them against each other in nervousness. Apparently the guy who helped her the other night was a huge asshole, either that or he had a serious case of Multi Personality disorder and she's in touch with Shitty-Mc-Emo. She sighs. And then he follows with a sigh of his own. "Paul." is all he says, and she peeks up at him, his onyx eyes staring at her.

"Well... nice to meet you Paul." She give him a dainty smile. And then they lapse into small conversation. And it feels great to have someone to talk to after that night of being harassed. She feels safe.

She leaves with his number (she stole it when he went to go use the bathroom) a smile, and proceeds to go home.

* * *

"Ash?" the door chimed as Misty entered the store, _Ash's Petshop_ , inspecting the store in front of her quietly until she spotted the man's hat peeking out the top of some boxes. He removed his hat, and then shook out his hair to its original state before looking up to his visitor.

"Misty! Whats up?" He asked cheerfully, picking up some boxes and moving them over towards the Hamster display.

"Nothing, just wanted to check in with you. Whats up with all the boxes though? It's cluttered and I don't think people would wanna come into this." She kicks a box to the side and travels up towards the brown eyed klutz.

"Well hmm..." He doesn't make eye contact, but his movements slow. "I got a notice from the city saying that I need to close my shop or relocate." He says quietly, now completely still, staring up at the fish tank. "I have a month before I can either pay them what I owe, or move out. If I have to go, I have to put down these animals or sell them all somehow." He smiles blankly, and Misty frowns. She doesn't think she's ever seen Ash this down before. Animals where his passion, he's always had a knack for helping and loving all creatures.

"I'm sorry, Ash. Is there anyway I can help?" She asks, picking up a rather heavy box and moving it to the side.

"I think I can manage it. I'll have to change my store hours, and pick up another job somehow. Shouldn't be too hard. Besides, I wouldn't want to bother you when you have your swimming lessons job and whatever you do at night, haha." He smiles genuinely at her and her heart stops for a split second. She smiles back at him.

"I'll help you. I'll take your fliers and give them out. We'll try to sell the animals, at least." He pats his shoulder and his eyes gleam. She wants to punch him for looking like such an excited kid, like a kid when their parent tells them they're going to disneyland. It's his charm.

"Thanks Misty!" he nods at her and then his stomach growls. "Now, can I have lunch? Talking makes me hungry." He giggles, and she smacks him upside the head.

"Goddamnit Ash." He laughs.

* * *

 **Wow this chapter was hard to write. I wanted to get all the characters introduced before the third chapter, so that I could move onto bigger things, like Volkner/Dawn's relationship and how Paul will play into it.**

 **Thanks to the two of you who reviewed! Once again, I'm very glad that I could bring quality to you both, and the others who are following this now!**

 **-ACCEL**


	3. Cat and Mouse pt1

**This fic is centered around all the girls, but Dawn and May have the most prominent roles. Each chapter will not feature everyone, but everyone will have a chapter. This fic will contain smut/NSFW/"Lemons" in the future, and I will warn when those scenes will come up. Please Enjoy your stay! If this is something you do not like reading, do not anon hate, click off the story and find another. Thank you.**

* * *

 **Uploading two chapters today! This is Dawn's focus chapter! Enjoy~**

* * *

"Paul!" Dawn speeded up to the officers on duty with his co-workers, smiling brightly. The others' eyes went wide, while Paul kept his composure.

"Dawn." He nodded his greeting. As stoic as always.

"Officer Shinji, you know her?" His friend with brown hair asks, elbowing him slightly. Dawn snickers and whispers _Officer Shinji_ under her breath. He glares into her.

"More like I'm acquaintances with her. She's bothersome." He answers curtly. Dawn growls a little. He smirks like the bastard he is.

"You know, maybe you'd be more approachable if you weren't such an ass." she tells him and he sneers.

"You know, maybe people would want to have intellectual conversations with you if you weren't so air-headed." He retaliates and she's about to launch at him, if it weren't for the brown haired officer next to him separating them. She doesn't want to get arrested, no no. There's no one who'd bail her out that she knows. She manages to plant her feet down firmly. "Anyway. I'm on duty, go off somewhere, aren't you like... shopping or something." He asks, shooing her off with a rather _japanese_ hand gesture. She thinks its cute. Officer Shinji.

"Well I'm all done by now. Why can't I just say hi to you and your dashing co-workers? Doesn't seem to be any crime you're fighting right now. You look like a mall cop." She laughs. He glares harder, if thats any more possible. "Last time we talked, was almost a week ago. I tried texting you?" she tells him and then he makes a face of realization.

"So it was you wh- How did you even get my number?" He asks and she giggles.

"You left your phone on the table so I infrared your contact into my phone before you came back. I don't know. I like making new friends." She then sees the bus pass them and she sucks in air. "Ah! Gotta go! see you around, _Officer Shinji._ Lol." She runs off after that.

"You're rather popular with the ladies, Paul." Kenny laughs. "She's really attractive. You should hook us up, if you're not interested."

"Shut up, Kenny please."

* * *

"A chance set of encounters. You attracted to him?" May asks Dawn as she helps curl her long blue hair.

"He looks like a Korean pop star, but Japanese. Probably sexually attracted to him, sure, but he's an asshole and I don't think I could bother romantically. Plus I'm a stripper, and even if he was a cop, I don't trust relationships right now." Her corset is all the way tied and she smiles into the mirror, admiring her look before settling her crown and bunny ears on her head. "I don't even know why I bothered to get his number. He never texts back anyway."

"Hmm, but maybe try to pursue that physical relationship with him? He won't spread your info since he didn't seem to recognize you as Berlitz." She smiles gently. "Love may not be okay right now, but Sex is a different situation all together. If he looks like a SHINee member then I'd definitely try for it." She earns a smack on her arm by Dawn.

"You're embarrassing me, May, christ!" She grabs her friend's hand and proceeds to exit the locker rooms into the smokey crowd.

"Welcome back Berlitz, Sapphire! You both look stunning as always!" The males compliment them all through the aisle and they wink at them all. Dawn melds with the crowd once again and they split up and agree to do a duo show later tonight before closing. Dawn gets caught by surprise by a hand in her hair and turns around to meet eyes with Volkner... once again.

"Hi Volkner-"

"my offer is still open." She frowns for a moment before smiling calmly.

"I'll be fine on my own, Volkner. I'm faring very well as of late. I'm sorry I can't take up your offer." She dismisses herself so she could find a corner to calm down in, settling in a vacant hallway and leaning against the wall.

"Don't try to avoid the question. Now we're alone and you can drop the fucking façade." He's there, he followed her. She feels sick to her stomach.

 _She just wants this to end_.

She has nowhere to back into as he makes his way to the corner she's in and corners her with his sleeved arms. The gesture is a dangerous and the bile starts to come up through her throat as he lowers his face towards her. She wants to escape, and if that means she had to kill herself right her and now, so be it. She just wants a peaceful life, to just be secure in her finances at least. She doesn't want this. The cruel reminder of her and this animal's past. He wasn't always this way...

"I don't want to... Live with you. I don't want to be with you..." She avoids eye contact, but she can tell that he's getting fired up, she can hear his teeth clench and grind against each other. He's probably tipsy or already drunk, usually he has more control this early on. "I don't want your help..."

"Of course you fucking don't. You love being a slut, and you love to watch your mother wilt away. You probably never loved her, despite all the care you got, you fake princess." He chuckles darkly, and his hands are on her now, tangled in her hair, the other one sliding down to her ass, squeezing. She squeaks. "What would you mom _think?_ What would she _say_ , if she knew you were being a slut for quote-on-quote _her sake_?" He asks, starting to untie the box on the back of her corset.

She starts to struggle against him and before she can scream for help, his hand is closing her mouth, and covering it tight enough that fingerprints could very likely be left behind.

"Live with me Dawn, Marry me Dawn, Love only me like I love only you. I'm willing to do anything to get you in my possession." He starts to sound desperate, and her eyes are on him in shock. He stops his hands. "When you left me I was so broken, I wanted to die. You're so perfect. I love you. I'll pay for your mother, I want you with me, can't you just _see_ ," He pulls at her top and he breast is exposed.

She starts to struggle again.

"I'm going to remove my hand, Dawn. Because I love you. Don't scream and I wont have to do anything. I'll even stop touching you like this." he removes his hand slowly.

"...Why..." She can feel tears slide down her face.

"Because I _Love_ you, Dawn." He smiles at her. It's genuine, but Dawn can't bring herself to fall for it, as much as she'd love to accept her fate. "I've loved you for so long... why can't you see... I want you and I _will_ have you."

Dawn breathed in.

"Volkner... I..." She cups his face and he smiles down at her. "I NEED HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE GET HIM OFF OF ME!"

"You Bitch-"

" !" A guard came running for her, ripping Volkner from off of her and backing him up out the club.

"YOU'RE A SICK WHORE DAWN, AND I WILL HAVE YOU, TRUST ME."

* * *

"Dawn that _isn't_ okay! He assaulted you! If you hadn't pulled what you pulled, he could have done _much_ worse!" Leaf yelled at her, while Misty paced around the room, running her fingers through her hair in frustration.

"More importantly, you're not even safe anymore." Winter speaks up, and everyone looks over at her. "I've heard about that Volkner guy. He's filthy fucking rich, and he _will_ get goons to get you." She points out.

"Thats... true..."May whispered behind Dawn, stopping her comforting back rub.

"What even happened?" Misty looked at her.

"He just, talked to me in the lobby, and it hurt so I went to the vacant hall to cool down... he followed me and he... touched me and said really horrible things to me.." Dawn blinked back tears. "Like stuff about my mom..."

"Fucking ridiculous ohhhh I cannot believe this." Leaf sighed.

Misty gets out her cellphone and the dialed three letters. Dawn looked up at her. "Hello, I'd like to request a police escort for someone, if you don't mind. We're at the PlayPoke strip club. Just one girl needs it." Dawn feels better not having to go home alone, even if her house was a few towns over.

When the police car comes around, the others plant kisses on Dawn's cheek and tell her to be safe. She nods and thanks all of them, and warns May to not miss her bus, and makes her way outside towards the car. The door swings open and out emerges Paul. What luck does she have. His eyes widen for a moment when he sees her and half of her is exceptionally embarrassed for him to see her like this, walking out the alley door of the strip club. Still, he opens the passenger door for her and she nods her thanks and gets in.

5 minutes into the drive and he asks, "Why did you need an escort? If it's something serious, you can always report for us and we can help."

"Its a personal thing. I'm a bit paranoid to go home by myself. Plus, the guy was escorted out so he's far from here by now, probably." She explains. "It happens a lot. It's a strip club, I'm used to it."

"...You shouldn't be 'Used to it', though." he says quieter, turning a corner. "I'm not going to force you to write a report. I know you're an independent type of girl. But I'm just putting out the option for your safety. Police can't do much help these days, but you know." He tries to hide his concern and it's really cute, Dawn remarks in her head. Coming from a guy who usually has no emotion (from the three times she's seen and talked to him), it means a lot to her.

"...I didn't expect for you to work in a strip club, though."

time stops for a split second and Dawn looks out the window.

"At daytime, I work in a bank." a noise of acknowledgement comes from Paul. "It's enough to pay my bills, but money is hard nowadays, you know..."

"...Sorry if I sounded a bit nosy."

"No no, you're fine! I just didn't want to meet you there like that, rather i just wanted to be friends- before you get any ideas."

"I'm a feminist, don't worry."

Dawn snorted.

He has a big grumpy face on, and a big grumpy tone, but his conversation told her that he was quite the humorous guy. He reminded her of an old friend's father. They slowly lapsed into conversation as the time passed. Dawn would make an inquire, Paul would coldly shun her- before a few seconds would pass, and he'd answer softly. They apparently were very compatible in friendship, if she could even call what they have friendship. She hasn't been able to talk to a man so comfortably like this in a long time, and it feel great because she senses no danger in him, _even after_ he discovered she was one of the head strippers at Poképlay. She can hold a conversation like the types of contact she has with May, talk about almost anything. Paul seemed uninterested at some topics, and she would change them to fit his image. But it ended as quick as it did when they had met at the café, he arrived at her apartment, and even dropped her off at her room.

"Thank you so much, I really appreciate it." She holds the door gingerly, looking up at him. He stares through her, down at her.

"..'s fine." he mumbles and she giggles.

"I'll see you around..."

He makes a sound of acknowledgement and turns to leave, taking his big, intimidating steps.

"Bye... _Officer Shinji_... pfft.."

He stops, and almost removes his gun from it's holster, and she squeaks and retreats into her room and shuts the door behind her. She knew it was a joke.

She cant help but smile while she retreated to her shower.

* * *

"Okay so I met a guy. It was a strange encounter." May starts over the skype line. Dawn pauses, wiping the excess fingernail polish from the sides of her toenail and looks up at her webcam. "Ok so listen. I was at my job, just organizing shelves and whatever before I closed with whatever her name is, I can't remember, I'm playing a phone game. And- oh, Winter wants to join call, is that okay with you? Lets relocate to the group." She hangs up before Dawn can even reply, and then calls in the group called ' _EVEN GIOVANNA IS AFRAID!'_ , where Dawn picks up again, turning on her cam.

"Whats up fuckers, I'm here. So May I heard you met some guy, tell me the details."

"I was just abt to start telling Dawn- Okay so I was at my job about to close, when this guy with a really lithe figure and weird green hair comes up in the store. So I stop and tell him we're closing. He completely ignores me, instead saying _I'll give you something special if you let me buy something_."

"This sounds sexual, what happened?" Dawn questions, narrowing her eyes mischievously at the camera. May lets her head hang for a second.

"AS I WAS SAYING- So I let him into the store, thinking he was gonna give me 20 dollars for myself. He comes back with some _ugly_ shirts, something that would be strange, because he looked so high fashion- and so he pays me, and literally. The thing extra I get is AN AUTOGRAPH _."_

"An Autograph? Can we see?" Winter asks, slurping her instant-ramen with wide, interested eyes. May gets up, leaves camera for a second, and comes back with a piece of paper.

"I cant read it." She holds it up to the camera and Dawn's jaw immediately dropped.

"May."

"What."

"May you met.."

" _I met WHO?!_ " May yells.

"You met that famous fashion designer, Drew Hayden?! He's super fucking rich why didn't you recognize him?!" She yells back and Winter is cracking up.

"I can't believe you don't know Drew Hayden." She makes an ugly laugh.

"I'm ot that into fashion! Plus people don't make clothes for my size! I'm a bit too chubby for that type of stuff, if thats what he does." she shrugs. "I only buy from PlusPenny."

"You're so thick I love you, and your nice ass." Winter comments.

"Thank you Winter I love you too!" May laughs, used to Winter. "Anyway, He was rude, and I hope I never see him again. Unless he wants me to sing for a fashion show then my answer remains No."

"hmm..." The sounds of clicking can be heard from Winter's side, and then she loses connection for a brief moment. "He just had a fashion show a second ago. What kinda stuff did he buy again? Ugly Dress shirts? Well, theres a look he created from two dress shirts..." She sends the link over in the chat and the others press it. "From underneath, theres a quote that says..."

"... _'I got the idea while I was running around after a deadline... A lady at a store supposedly named May helped me buy even though the store was closed. Figured why not add another style to the collection?'_." May read, then her face went red. "Ohhhh I hope people don't recognize me and I become famous..." She buries her head in her sweater and Dawn smiles.

"You're so cute." to which May replied as _I'm not!_

"Anyway, I figured I'd try out my pole dancing with Dawn tonight. Is that okay with you? I know we don't collab a lot but I was just wondering." Winter speaks and Dawn hums.

"Why not? Seems like it could be a lot of fun."

* * *

"Thanks again, for the ride. I'm sorry for making it an even more stressful job for you, Officer." Dawn rummages through her backpack, and pulls out a wad of ten ones, hands it to him. Paul briefly looks down at it then shakes his head.

"I'm fine. Nothing barely ever happens in this city other than drug dealers. Don't offer me your money."

It's been probably a week and a half that she's had Paul escort her home. Volkner has come around a few times, but these times, the others protect her and put her in different slots away from him. Even doing so much as to keeping him from private booths by seducing other customers into them. She really appreciates their help... They really are the best of friends. Besides, he doesn't scare her as much, knowing that she'll be protected by Paul anyway. It's been a great week in terms of funds too, she's really raking it in.

"Give me the rest of this week. Then you can stop dropping me off. On Sunday." She proposes. He stays silent for a second. "...Unless you love me so much you want to keep dropping me off."

"In your dreams." He snorts and she smacks his arm. He laughs harder.

He's sculpted as fuck, from that smack she can _tell_. Her mind runs wild for a second before he breathes in to start talking again.

"That looks suspicious... I'm gonna stop the car to make sure nothing's going on over there." He pulls to the curb, and organizes his stuff before getting out, hand on his holster as he approaches an alley way. Dawn looks on in interest, wondering whats going on. In the distance, she sees one guy in a hoodie freeze before trying to run off. Paul leaves him, lets him run on before a gunshot is heard and he stumbles back a few. Dawn screams for a second, before realizing he got shot over the bullet-proof vest, and breathing out in relief. He sends another shot at him, and she watches him get his handcuffs out, and runs farther into the alley.

He leaves the alley and begins a sprint to catch the other who got away. Apparently he had tripped and sprained his ankle on his way to escape, and Paul quickly cuffed him as well, pulling him up by the chains on the cuffs. he travels back but not before grabbing the other in the alley, and coming back to the car, throwing them in the back. Dawn straightens up quickly. Paul gets back into the car.

"Sorry you had to see that. We're making a detour for a moment, is that okay," He stated it more than asked and Daw nods frantically. She'd better not get in the way of his work.

"Hey officer, I like your bitch." One of them laughs, and sniffs. "She looks familiar- Oh, isn't that the one bitch from that strip club _Berlitz_ or something? Good choice, but expensive. You have great tits, ma'am." Dawn can tell he's on some heavy stuff.

Paul pulls out his gun and points it through the grid that separates the drivers and the criminals. "Shut your Goddamn mouth before I blow your _fucking_ brains out right now."

"I dare you, you faggot pretty boy. Even if you had the guts, you'd get removed from your job so fast and be entered in the place I might be." He laughs. Paul puts his finger on the trigger before Dawn pulls at his forearm.

"Officer, Officer. Please. He's just trying to get you riled up okay? Lets just make it to the office so they can be put up, okay?" She pleads and Paul gives her a look before pulling his gun back and starting the car. "Just let him talk, I'm okay, it happens all the time."

"Of course you are, slut." She looks down at her flats, ignoring him.

Paul enters them in at the office, tells them he's going home after he writes the report. Dawn comes in for a brief moment for a drink of water before exiting again, and Paul's back in the car by then.

The car ride is silent after that.

"S-"

"You need to stop letting people talk to you like that. Stripper or not." He speaks up and her eyes widen.

"Paul I-"

"No, stop talking. I don't care if you're used to it or not. Women should not have to be harassed like that just because of their occupation or how they look act or dress. You guys are human too." He makes his point. "It's frustrating. Seeing you be treated like that you you just _let_ them-"

"Well if I didn't, then you'd have shot the damn guy and then _you'd_ be in Jail. Thank me, Paul. _Thank me_." She spits back, and he shuts up. "I was trying to save _your_ ass. I know I shouldn't be treated this way, Paul. But this world is fucked up and I realize that. It comes with the job _I, Myself_ chose. So stop talking about it. It's not gonna change the way others talk to me, just by telling me its not cool. Chill out and drive."

Paul sighs, and drives on until he reaches her apartment. They make it up the stairs and to Dawn's apartment before stopping when she finally gets her door open.

"...Thank you for the hard work, Paul." She gets on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, before retreating into her room, and Paul cups his cheek in shock.

* * *

 **yayyyyy 2 chaps today. I'll get right to work on Tigerhead, don't worry! I've been busy this summer so things are moving slowly.**

 **I literally can't type anymore my fingers HURT. So I'll leave you with this for today.**

 **remember to review and fav and follow, thanks!**

 **-ACCEL**


	4. A Fateful Encounter!

**konnichiweiner, I'm back again~ I'm having a lot of fun with this story, and a lot of things are playing out in my head. Here's our next installment of Red Light!**

 **To sirenskin who was so kind to review once again, if you want to know the girls' body types, check on my profile! It has a link to a doc with photos and descriptions! **

**This chapter, we have partial focus on Leaf, and partial focus on May, you ready?**

 **Let us start~!**

* * *

"Happy Birthday, !" The students filed out of class and wished the professor happy birthdays, to which he thanked them and smiled charismatically. Leaf was the last to leave, once again, and Gary caught her before she could leave.

"Where ya going, Leaf-Leaf?" He asks her, and she makes a fart noise with her mouth.

"Why are you stopping me today, sir? Gonna pester me and buy me coffee again?" She asks, turning towards him, trying to balance all her books in her arms.

"Well, I was hoping I'd get a happy birthday from my brightest student." She blushed at the praise, since usually Gary doesn't compliment her. She sighed it off though. He must be in a _really_ good mood.

"Happy Birthday, yayyyyy." She gave a sarcastic reply and he frowned.

"You're no fun. Lighten up, its my birthday today, I'm 21." He smiled brighter at the number.

"You're just happy you can legally drink now." She snorts. "Even though you've most likely been doing it since high school." Gary shushed her and looked out the hallway.

"Be quieter will you? The lecture hall echoes a lot. But on the coffee thing, I was gonna do that, of course. I'm such a gentleman. But turn in your paper."

She digs through her folder for a moment and hands him her report. Half a second later he sighs, and puts it down on his desk. Leaf wonders momentarily what's wrong, and then her palms get sweaty. What if she didn't do a good job? If he puts it away this quick something must be wrong. She dares to look away before Gary snaps in front of her to get her attention on him once again. She slowly puts her eyes back on him.

"Stop getting nervous. You just turned me off by your introduction. It could be a bit stronger. And I know you have it in you to give me stronger. Leaf, you have to learn how to determine if your stuff is good enough or if you could expand on it. Make my job a bit easier, and make your grades a bit higher, will you?" he asks her, and he's critical. Leaf nods slowly.

"I understand. I'll revamp tonight and-"

"The deadline was tonight. I grade these today. I'm sorry Leaf. It won't drop your grade much though, so don't worry." He smiles gently at her and she sighs.

"Alright..."

The whole entire walk to the campus café was a bit silent- Leaf's mind was occupied with her essay. It's been a while since she's gotten such a turn-down from Gary, and she's a bit disappointed to have done such a thing on his birthday. Gary talks to students passing by, and Leaf offers a wave to everyone she knows before Gary sits her down at a seat in the café. He gets her what she usually gets, an iced caramel coffee and some chocolate expresso beans. He seems to have read her mind since he got a whole pack of them. He notes that she looks more tired than usual and asks if she's getting enough sleep, to which she waves her hands in front of her.

"I have to keep money grooving, I have a few side jobs."

"Seems like a lot... You sure you shouldn't drop one? You need more time to sleep and do your projects for your classes."

"I'm doing well, actually. I don't have to go to work at one of my jobs, but the other one, I'll be there till closing, haha.." She makes sure to keep her job descriptions vague.

"Do you wanna go to a club with me before you go to your job? It'll be fun~" Gary snickers deviously. "I'm going two places tonight, but the last one is a secret to never be told. She makes a face at him, and he reaches over to fix her big reading glasses. She really needs to get the bolts fixed.

"I'll be fine not knowing, and I don't think so. Theres a lot going on tonight at work, like events and stuff, so I have to get prepared and comfortable before dust gets kicked up." She smiles and he frowns.

"Aww, If you say so."

"Have a happy birthday, Gary."

* * *

"Come on Drew, Paul. You have to come to my next destination with me. You even get in free cause it's my birthday. I'm _not_ going alone on my first try." Gary pleaded to his friends, and Paul hummed quietly, and threw back his shot quickly.

"No thanks, I wanted to visit a place before I have to escort again tonight." He replies curtly, and Gary whines like a kid again.

"I have to think of new designs for my next fashion show, anyway. I'm terribly sorry, Gary." He replies, princely in speech cause he can't handle liquor well, and he's reverted into stage personality. Gary plucks a feather from his collar, and Drew lets out an ugly noise, swatting his hand away and fluffing his collar's feathers for the nth time that night. "Don't do that! This is my prized piece!"

"Hmmm, whatever. Paul, why have to been escorting everyday for the past week? Is it a cute chick? Are you scoring?" He asks, getting all in Paul's personal space.

"What's it to you?" He pushes his friend away, chugs another, and rakes his fingers through his hair.

"I just wanted to know~" Drew also looks over, searching for answers.

"Whats their body type like, I need a specific model-"

"She's just a girl who got harassed and doesn't want to leave work alone for a while, nothing special." He tells them, not wanting Drew to go on and on about his fashion bullshit. He wonders how Drew became a closer friend than Riley... Never mind, all his friends are trashy and annoying.

"Hm... I see... Oh hey Drew, If you're looking for a specific type of model, why don't you come to my next destination? It's a strip club." He baits Drew and Drew is suddenly attentive.

"...Okay... But only for my model, alright?" He covers himself up and Gary goes along with it, not wanting him to get worked up.

"Well if that's settled, Lets go. Your appointment is at 11 anyway, right?" Paul looks at his watch and read 10:25pm.

"Ohhh thats right. Okay lets go Drew." he pays the bartender for all their drinks and starts to exit with his friends.

* * *

"Alrighty then. Are you ready for your first day here, Brianna?" May asks the small redhead, and she nods.

"I-I think I got this-! No time for backing out now, I finally made it to PlayPoké!" She sparkles, and May laughs lightly. "So I can only take parties and public pays?" Brianna asks.

"Yep! No private dances or pole work for now. You're still in training for this type of strip club. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask-"

"May? Are we doing double work tonight?" Leaf steps in, finishing tying her hair into a high ponytail. May turns to her and smiles brightly, coming around to help her.

"Yes! Dawn's taking Cynthia's party tonight. You know how Cynthia's head over heels for Dawn and her work, haha." And soon they were out the door.

The Lights were bright yellow, with some neon pink scattered here and there. Today was a topless special once again, so the place was packed with people and the air was full of even more smoke. May had on her corset, since she didn't have the best self-esteem tonight, and Leaf just had on a thong with a light green bow in the front. They made their way into the crowd, where guards were getting more chairs from the back to make sure everyone had a seat. They sent a wink to Misty, who's already on the pole, entertaining young men and getting dollar after dollar. Leaf hooks her arm around her bundled waist, and walks around with her, greeting men and pouring champagne in their tall wine glasses, protecting glasses from falling, and just being social and making a good amount of tips from them. It's a calm night, and nothing bad has happened-

"...Leaf?" Leaf freezes for a second, wondering who could possibly know her name... Oh it's that tone... She knows that tone... Is that Gary?

 _fuck_.

She continues traveling farther for other customers who call her stage name. She travels farther from Gary, who wears a confused look on his face. He leans down to tap at a customer's shoulder. The customer whips around to look at him, and sips at his Blue Caracao.

"What's the name of that stripper?" he asks, and he receives a puzzled look from the red haired customer.

"You don't know Forest Green? Wow, you must be a newbie. Well, she's one of the top strippers at this club. You should invest in her, she'll make you swoon _so fast_ ," He grins and pats him harshly on the back. Gary coughs. " _Forest Green"_? How corny, but he guesses it's because she's a stripper after all. "She seems pretty reserved, but that seems to be her charm. You gonna try to loosen her up? If you get info come tell me, I'd love to fuck _that_." He laughs and Gary scowls.

"Forest Green?" He calls, and Leaf has no choice but to respond, and takes a deep breath, turns around, and smiles welcomingly at him.

"Yes Master? I'm Forest Sun!" She greets him as if she didn't know him. "You seem to be new around here. Can I start by asking you what title you'd like me to call you by? Master, Sir, Mister, or Daddy works just fine, it's all about your comfort!"

"Uh... Gary is fine."

"Okay, Gary. Would you like a drink to start you off? Would you like me to do anything for you?" She ushers him to a seat. He's baffled, so he sits. Somewhere along the line, Drew had disappeared from his side, and he really wishes he was here right now. Instead he just orders a fireball with sprite and she takes a seat next to him. She waits until a guard walks past them before she whispers from the side of her mouth: "Why are you here," and it sounds more like a statement, rather than a question.

"It's my birthday and I got in. I should ask why _you're_ here." That was a stupid question, and he only realizes when Leaf turns to him and gestures towards her body, which was bare, and he almost had a heat spell from it. "...Okay that was dumb of me, but I... never expected you to work here." She sighs for a moment before getting up.

"Meet me in party stall 3 around an hour from now, I'm booked 'till then." She leaves him behind with a bow, and walks off.

Gary feels like he's dreaming. Here he is, in the nation's most well-known strip club, by himself cause his friend left him to do some scouting, and by some strange fate, he runs into his student- not to mention his favorite student, who's topless, in a thong and stilettos, made up from her usual bummy-college-student look, and works at this godforsaken place. Its like something from a wet dream. And it's so vivid and intense. And now all he wants to do is get a private dance from her, pick her up from after she's done working, take her back to his apartment and fuck her... at least thats what some of his past fantasies told him he wanted.

He shakes himself out of his evening daydream, and instead tries to scan the crowded club for Drew. He figured he'd be able to find him because of his hair, but he's nowhere to be found. He groans, and instead busies himself on the other strippers.

* * *

Drew had found himself in a party room, dark purple with red strobe lights scanning the room like a laser. He was told that since he was with a birthday group, he was able to get a room and a stripper of his choice.

"Get me one of your most popular girls. I heard this club was famous because of some girls or something."

"Um, do you mean , sir? Or perhaps -"

"I do not care! Hurry up now, I don't have all night. I have a purpose, unlike someone like _you_." He snaps, and the guard nods before running off.

He hated strip clubs. Well not exactly, but he would rather be coaxing one of his models or fans instead of paying for some tease, in which he can't even touch _in the first place_. He sighs and taps the tip of his shoes on the floor in an impatient manner, waiting for his disgusting whore of a stripper to come through the curtain, and hoping that she was pretty enough to be in his next runway-

 _"_ Sorry to keep you waiting, sir. My name is Sapphire, and I will be-" May froze upon entering, and Drew's eyes widened for a moment, before his cool came back. She noticed Brianna come up next to her and then she coughed and continued, "-Your host for tonight." She turned a little towards Brianna, who's eyes were staring straight at Drew. Drew took his eyes off of May and looked over at Brianna, who suddenly felt the urge to cover her chest.

"I see you've noticed who I was. Go ahead and let it out, I don't mind." he smirks and flips his fringe, and Brianna runs up to him and sits into his side immediately.

"Oh , I never thought I'd get to see someone of your status here! I own all your fall fashion lines! You're so admirable!" She gets giddy, like a child, and May panics, and clears her throat to get Brianna's attention. Brianna gets up in a hurry, realizing her mistake, and setting an apologetic face her supervisor's way.

"Oh no, don't be so surprised. I was brought here in acquaintance to my friend and I thought it'd be wise to visually work. Thank you for accepting me as your company today, you two. May I ask for your stage names?" He asks and May smiled and stepped up, with a wine glass and some moderately-expensive wine. Gracefully, full of practice, she fills the glass in front of him, the other two glasses she had gotten a while back being filled afterwards, and takes a seat next to him. As much as she doesn't want to display herself as this way in front of someone she's familiar-but-not-so-familiar with, she has to get the money somehow.

"I'm Sapphire, one of the top workers here. Thank you very much for choosing me." She bows her head slightly and crosses a leg over the other.

"I'm Marionette, one of the newest members here. Thank you so much for the business!" Brianna kinda stumbles over her words, but Marionette really suited her for a name, with her naïvety and innocence. Drew nodded.

"Well, I'm Drew. Your new employer." he turns to Brianna, and May looks a bit confused. "To be honest, I've been in need of a new model... My old one and I had some complications a while back. And you're _very_ close to the type I've been meaning to scout for a while now. Do you feel up to the task, Miss Marionette?" He cuts to the chase immediately and Brianna, true to her name, accepts, probably because she needs something to brag about to her friends.

"O-Of course ! I'm up to the task completely!" She nods and May gapes at her from behind Drew. She only spares a glance for her superior, and May seethes. Until Drew notices with his critical mind, of course.

"Oh, and since you're her caretaker here, why not be her caretaker in my stead as well. Become her monitor for me, alright? Alright. Everything is settled, let me write my phone number somewhere you can keep." Drew, with his critical, but also _impatient_ mind, grabs a dollar from May's corset, tells her the dollar was barely nothing compared to what she's going to get payed (she still never agreed to do the job, and she wants to kill this man really bad right now), and opens a marker that seemed to be made from absolutely _nowhere_ just to write his number on it and sign it with a small smiley face. He does the same with Brianna, who's too starstruck to even care.

May almost smashes her glass in her fist, but somehow manages to get through a congratulatory 'cheers!' with the two of them.

* * *

"Leaf, I don't think you should be looking like that when you pour a customer a drink. Might want to calm down?"

"I'm sorry _Master Gary,_ who is this _Leaf_ you speak of? Certainly can't be _me_ , I'm _Forest Green_!" Leaf looks panicked and agitated at the same time, finally hidden by the curtains of a party room with her College Teacher, Professor Gary Oak. Gary tries to calm her down.

"Okay, Okay, _Forest_ _Green_." He backs off and she sighs, and plops down next to him. He watches her breasts bounce slightly. Close enough for her to notice. So as a quick fix, she pulls two ones from her pantyhose, lick them sticky enough to slap over her nipples. Gary makes a face and looks back up at her face. "Why are we in the party room?" He asks, and before she can answer, he follows up with "How long does a party here last?" _and then_ with "Why do you work here anyway?" and Leaf gets so fed up that she climbs over her slightly, and tugs at his collar.

"I work here because I have college funds I can't take care up, got that punk? You may be my professor somewhere else, but not here. I don't have to draft, write, and proofread an essay for you." She starts, and Gary really thinks he should have shut up. "I'm trying to pay for college as best as I can, and then I get marked and docked _a lot_ for my essay today because of _you_. Do you understand why I work here now?" She asks, and Gary nods frantically until she lets go of him and sits down again. "I just want to get my Master's and get out of here, Gary..."

"Well... I could Rewrite the parts you got wrong for you and... give you a higher score... At least higher than your latest C-" She looks up slowly at him and he smiles knowingly at first, and then it turns deviant. " _If,_ you give me a private dance?" he asks. "It's my birthday after all..."

She sighs, and downs her raw, unmixed Rum. "...Fine. Get your ass to the private dance room. You go first as to not call suspicion. I expect extra ones."

 **And so here he is _._**

Sitting in a rather comfy chair in a private dance stall near the pole, where he can faintly see a tall, white-haired woman dancing slowly to the changing music, and he can faintly remember the title- Beyoncé, Rocket.

Leaf looms over him, running her hands gingerly down his chest. It puts all his attention on her and she smirks.

"Don't look at her. You're paying me." She switches her waist to her left side when she pulls back.

 _Let me sit this ass on you_  
 _Show you how I feel_  
 _Let me take this off_  
 _Will you watch me?_  
 _That's mass appeal_

She rakes her hands up the curves of her body, switching her weight to the right now, the slowly lowers her top half to fall into her legs, hands near her ankle.

 _Don't take your eyes_  
 _Don't take your eyes off it_  
 _Watch it, babe_  
 _If you like you can touch it, baby_  
 _Do you, do you wanna touch it, baby?_

Gary hates that he's not only slave to her curves, but the music as well. He definitely can't take his eyes of his student- no, not his student right now. His _Friend._ His _Cynosure_. And Damn it, Beyoncé, he sure does want to touch it. The song slowly progresses, and Leaf writhes her body on his lap, runs her fingers through his scalp, smirks like a little devil, and discovers all his weaknesses. Her body is wonderful. He's never really noticed it until now, but her body was a perfect pear shape, her breasts were nothing more than a straight-C, and her bottom was heavy. Maybe not big, but big enough to accentuate her hips. She was really short, as well, she looked perfect... At least in his opinion. Her ass moves in his face and he swallows thickly, trying to not reach out and touch her.

 _Got me screaming to the lord, boy_  
 _Kiss me_  
 _Pray we don't overflow_  
 _Baby, I know you can feel it pulse_  
 _Keeping the peak of my waterfall_  
 _Rock it, baby, rock it, baby, rock it 'til the water falls down_  
 _Damn_

And before his strength runs out, the song ends, and so does Leaf, smiling down at him with her hands out. He fishes out his wallet shakily, takes out a band of ones, and hands it over.

"Thanks, Professor. It means a lot to me." She tells him, crouches down and smiles at him, a genuine smile, and it snaps him out of his daze. "I have to go now, but if you want another dance before the club closes, don't bother to call my stage name again." And with that, she leaves the sheer curtains, and Gary can't muster up the strength in his legs to get up until a guard yells at him to get lost.

* * *

"DREW WAS HERE?!" Dawn yells and May giggles in an uneasy way, Brianna behind her and undoing her corset for her until she can breathe.

"Yes, ! He hired us too! I'm going to be his model!" She says brightly and Dawn rambles with her about it.

"Meanwhile, Leaf's professor came up today and almost ruined her cover." Misty enters the main locker room with Leaf in stead, and Winter is seen leaving the building but not without saying goodbye. "He even had the nerve to ask for a lap dance. Hah."

"It was worth it though, he marked up my essay. Even though he saw my bare chest. School will be different from now on... I'm guessing."

"At least you gave him your consent. Drew just forced me into the job. I guess I'll have to take it up, since he did promise money..." May rolls back her arm and Brianna starts to get dressed up again. "This whole fashion ordeal is getting to be a bit much. Pretty soon, I might just become a nudist!" She exaggerates, breathing out.

"How much more money..?" Dawn looks back at her, while putting on her shirt.

"I'm probably a few good thousands left..." She responds.

"Ah... Well, Maybe Drew can help?" She suggests.

Brianna butts in. "What're you trying to pay up anyway?" May stops tugging on her shirt, and looks down at the ground. She's silent for a while. Misty pulls Brianna by the ear.

"Trainee's should stop getting in peoples' business, hmm?" She says, and Brianna gets it. "Good girl. Now get going. You have work with Mister Drew tomorrow, right?"

May stays behind a few minutes after everyone leaves to think, and then heads home.

* * *

 **EVENTFUL CHAPTER HMMM? I'm back though so that's nice. Everything seems to be running in perfect sequence. This story is fun to write, I hope you all think its fun to read!**

 **Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next installment! Remember to tell me your thoughts in the reviews!**

 **-ACCEL**


	5. Everything You Own

**IM SO FUCKING SORRY IM LITERALLY GONNA START SCREAMIN. I DIDN'T MEAN TO LEAVE THIS FIC ALONE FOR SO LONG I HOPE YOU'RE ALL STILL WITH ME? :^((((**

 **ANYWAY, I'm lowkey really sorry if this chapter is rusty as hell. I haven't written fanfiction since chapter 4 which was... 4 months ago... haha...**

 **Thank you for the Review and Critique crow3man! I'm really big on feminism so I want to portray strippers in a better light then how they usually are represented. I'm not going to defend myself over my characterization of the boys, but I want to remind you that men don't usually go to strip clubs to be good people! I wanted Volkner to have something hidden behind his cool mask, and Gary is made to act immaturely (just as he did all of Gen 1)**

 **EITHER WAY THIS IS DRAGGING ON lets get on with something here? I'll try not to fuck up!**

* * *

Dawn's been texting Paul all day. He doesn't respond often, but when he texts back she sends another not even a minute after it. Even him being her escort she believes them to have a good relationship to be completely honest. Platonically, of course. But aside from that, She's been making a lot of good money and even gets two days off at the end of the week- Thursday AND Friday! She's so excited to relax and let her feet be free from her _Horrible, horrible_ Stilettos. Honestly, this is the Lightest she's felt for a long time. It's Tuesday and she gets to handle just the party rooms today. Throwing her purse over her shoulder she locks her apartment before heading towards her day job.

She works at a Bank, and it pays pretty well- but not enough, which would explain her night job. She's been with this job for a wonderful 5 months by now and they seem to really enjoy having her around, even the guy at the front desk who goes to the club once in a while.

She was just tapping away at her computer for a good while, entering things into the bank's internal files when the door rings and she glances up. It's Paul! And his friend from the other time, with the brown hair... Kenny? Was it that? Paul mentioned him in a text a while back. He almost immediately notices her and she waves excitedly, the brightest smile he's ever seen. He sighs like the grump he is and makes his way to her small space with Kenny, who seems to be fixated on her.

"Hi Paul! Hi Kenny!" She greets, still waving until Paul pushes her hand down. Kenny perks up at his name, and he reminds her of a little giddy dog. How cute.

"Paul! How's she know my name? How do you know who I am?" He looks between the two of them excitedly and Paul pushes his face away.

"Well, Paul talks about you a lot... Well texts. Also, Mr. Officer, It's written right on your chest as well." She giggles and Kenny blushes and mutters a 'th-that's right...'. "Either way, Mr. Shinji? What brings you in here? Come here to goggle at how pretty my suit dress is? Well if you want to know, It was 89 dollars and it's from Preston&York-"

"I didn't come in here to ask about that pink thing."

"But Pink looks really good on men-"

"Dawn."

"Yes?"

"I need to talk to someone about my savings account." He massages his temples and Kenny seems to be floating in some different dimension as he switches gazes from Dawn and Paul frequently.

"Aww... That means I can't stay here and chat with you guys... I'll take you to Maylene to talk about that and then maybeeeeeee I could take my lunch break afterwards and we can go get some sandwhiches together?" Dawn puts on her best puppy face and Kenny immediately crumbles

"Of cour-"

"Kenny. We're on duty." Paul groans and Kenny furrows his brows.

"We're literally mall cops at this hour. Nothing ever happens between 13 and 14." Kenny reminds him. "Plus a girl asked me... and you... to lunch! We can't decline her, can we? In the name of justice?" He flutters his eyelashes and Paul suddenly has the urge to gag while watching it.

"Ugh... If it'll get you both to stop with these... looks... then fine." He crosses his arms and Dawn and Kenny cheer before Dawn leads them to where they need to go.

* * *

Before the night at the club can start, May, Leaf and Misty get called for another of Winter's dysphoria breakdowns and have to tend to her the first 30 minutes of the club. Dawn, and Brianna are left with the remaining strippers while they have to calm Winter down and patch her up. Luckily this is happening at Winter's place rather than at the club... After the first time something happened at the club relating to this, the boss made sure to let her know that she can't perform in a bad mental state and told her that if she's not feeling well, she shouldn't come in.

"Will Winter be alright..?" Brianna asks while in the back with Dawn, who's fixing her makeup again.

"She'll be fine. She's strong. All we can do is hope she gets help soon." Dawn responds, and once her wing is back on her eyelid (Having been smudged by Tracy, a regular who seems to get nervous at certain points of the night and happened to drop a glass and accidentally rub against Dawn's eye while trying to help her pick it up), she picks up her fan and exits the room with the trainee.

"You all have so many different things going on.. I'm just kind of here, pretty regular." Brianna adds before being shoo'd away by Dawn after someone beckons her closer. Once again, Volkner is here, yet he's just watching intently, not saying anything as the other girls cuddle up to him like usual. Dawn's extremely happy he's not talking to her but she honestly doesn't feel right with it either way. She's soon joined with Misty who's back now, a small speck of blood on by her ear and she looks a little exhausted. Dawn licks her finger and rubs it off and Misty lets her.

"She didn't do much. A little deep around her shoulder but that can be covered by a cute orange ribbon." Misty assures her as they clean a party room and Dawn sighs out.

"I honestly wish I could help in some way but she's so independent, you know? Soon she'll be able to afford for herself and get better though."

"She's been doing really good though. I'm so proud of her." Misty looks a little sentimental thinking about Winter.

"Yep... So how's it going with Ash?" Dawn teases and Misty's smile turns into a big fat frown.

"The Idiot dropped _so many_ fragile boxes and broke a fish tank. I can't even believe this guy. This is ridiculous." Misty rants. "The things I do for this asshole, I swear."

Dawn Giggles.

Come time for Dawn to leave, there's very few patrons, but the big mess of human bodies tells her Volkner is still here. Just as he catches her eyes he tells the other girls that he's going to leave and they all whine. He smirks at Dawn before leaving the facility. Something tells Dawn that he's planning something.

* * *

Paul's outside, leaning on his car, with a cigarette in his mouth. When she meets him, he mutters a sorry and opens the door for her as usual.

"Why're you apologizing?" She asks, a bit stunned because he's never told her sorry before- not that he's had to at anytime other than that one night after the arrest of the drug dealers (Which he never apologized for anyway).

"You're in a club with smoke in it all the time. Don't need to have it in the car too." He shrugs when he gets in the car himself, and they take off. Faintly, the music plays and it clicks in Dawn's mind exactly what song this is.

"Oh my god I can't even believe this." She gasps and Paul is startled enough at how sudden it is he swerves a bit on the empty road.

"Wh-what," He breathes out when he's sure nothings wrong. Dawn looks at him with her mouth agape, then to the stereo, then back to him before smiling widely.

"For You! The _first Prince album_? I remember this album from my childhood!" She jumps a little in her seat and Paul registers something in his head.

"Are you like 40 or something?" He asks, genuinely wondering. He's scared of the effects of Makeup. Dawn bursts out laughing

"Umm, Paul. I'm 20. It's something my mom used to play a lot..." She thinks about her mom and gets a little sad for a moment before picking herself up. "Is this the whole entire album?"

"Uhh.. Yeah."

"Oh my God." She presses the next track button and immediately shakes her head slowly to the tune and sings along lightly.

 _You're always on my mind_  
 _Day and night, baby, all the time_  
 _(All the time)_  
 _You mean so much to me_  
 _A love like ours just hard to be_

 _You're the wind and the rain_  
 _You've got a river that takes away my pain_  
 _And the sky that's, oh, so blue_  
 _You're everything girl, don't you know I need you  
_ _(Need you)_

At some point, Paul starts to hum along and Dawn keeps going. She's not the best singer, she gets off key at some points but she loves this album so much she can't even mind his also equally off key singing. After the song ends, Paul changes the song to another song in the album. She recognizes it immediately and smirks.

"Is this one your favorite?" She asks, and he nods before giving her a 'Yea'. "You don't seem the type to like a song like this, unless you've been giving me a façade this whole time."

"Oh? Why would you think that?"

She sings a few parts of it.

 _Hey, lover, I got a sugarcane_  
 _That I wanna lose in you,_  
 _Baby can you stand the pain_  
 _Hey, lover, sugar don't you see?_  
 _There's so many things that you do to me_  
 _Ooo baby!_

As he visibly gets embarrassed, she continues at another part of the song.

 _Every time I'm with you, you just love me to death_  
 _Ooo weee, baby. you leave me without..._  
 _Breath! Ooo, baby! Oooo, yeah_  
 _You're just as soft as a lion tamed (hey, lover)_  
 _You're just as wet as the evening rain_  
 _How will I take it when you call my name? (hey, lover)_  
 _Your love is driving me..._  
 _you're driving me insane_

Paul switches the song immediately and Dawn laughs at him.

"I have a sex life too, you know." He mumbles and Dawn tries not to think about how he'd look in bed.

"I don't even have that much anymore, Paul! I don't double as a prostitute you know,"

"Never said you did, but you can't pull the wool over my eyes and say you're innocent." He groans and the rest of the car ride is full of really old music of all types of artists.

Dawn loves this to the point of her not wanting to leave the car when he arrives at her place.

* * *

Just one more night, Dawn reminds herself, and ties her apron around the small of her back, pats some flour on her cheek ( _and_ her ass for extra effect) and ties her hair up in a high ponytail. Today is a character day, so she's playing "The Cute Girlfriend Who Bakes For Her Lover". The rest of her attire is white thigh highs, innocent looking makeup, and a black G-string. She's extremely happy to not have to wear heels for this. She grabs her whisk prop and makes her way onto the club floor, but not before giving Winter, who's back in the club, a big kiss on her cheek and a hug. Winter's dressed as a ranger for an excuse to have the bandana wrapped around her arm, and she smiles to bright that Dawn is almost blinded and hugs back twice as hard.

Leaf and her work the pole, and it looks nice because because Leaf decided to match with her as "The Girlfriend Who Awaits Her Lover In Bed", which is a sheer night gown with pastes and the trademark thong showing clearly through it. She has her hair up in two buns on the side of her head, pastel thigh highs, the same makeup style Dawn has, and her prop is a little plushie toy she had probably gotten from some type of anime she watches.

The night goes perfect aside from the increase of glass dropping from customers tonight, until Volkner speaks up. It doesn't drone out everyone else, he's pretty quiet compared to all the other men, but Dawn picks up on his voice because she's heard it so many times before. She turns towards him at the call of her stage name and he smirks as she starts to fill his glass with champagne.

"Hello Volkner, how are-"

"I'm in the mood for a lap dance." He interrupts her.

"Would you like me to fetch our main lap dance girl for tonight? I'm sure Cerulean would love to serve you!" Dawn almost over fills the glass before she wills her arms to move and set the bottle down. She's more into watching the bottle sweat it's ice off than Volkner talking.

"I'd love it if Berlitz could give me one." He says cooly, and the other girls whine cause he didn't pick them.

"Sure thing!"

The private dance room is tense with the both of them in it. Before Dawn can even start, he stops her with a hand up. She lifts a brow to question, but keeps silent due to her being uncomfortable with him around in general. He leans back, puts one leg over the other and rests his chin on the back of his hand. He keeps that always blank expression on as always, and it irritates Dawn because she's never been able to understand him.

"I suggest you take my offer. Think about it Dawn. You can live in my mansion, I can take care of you, we could be happy. I could help your mom." He talks, slow and calm and it hits Dawn every time he speaks a word.

"Volkner. I keep telling you that using your money wouldn't be right. I need to do this for myself..." She tells him, holding her left arm in her right hand, looking down. He makes a 'tch' sound and she looks up at him.

"Dancing on a pole half naked for your cause isn't right either. Choosing me _is_ though." Volkner doesn't let Dawn speak, "Because I love you, and you do know that. You may have cut us off but you definitely still love me. You can't admit it, though."

"I... I don't love you." She flinches as he suddenly gets up, but feeling a sudden surge of courage she continues. "You're fucked up under that mask, you need help." She looks back down and Volkner growls.

"You know what, Dawn? Until you realize that I'm the right choice, Fuck you and everything you own." With that being said, he pushes her to the side and walks back out, taking out his cellphone.

She feels horrible.

* * *

Paul's here again, and its the same old routine. Except the fact that he knows something's up despite her cheerful demeanor. How he's able to read her so well is unsettling but not really bad. They've only known each other for a couple of months yet he's already so close to her.

"...Did something happen today?" He asks. The car has no music today so far. Dawn sighs a little bit.

"Just some guy from a long time ago. Guys can be such assholes." She stares out the window at the light drizzle of rain.

"If he's bothering you so much, report him. Your club has security cameras." He tells her.

"They don't record audio. The club is old, it's been around since the dinosaurs." She responds, "I'm just afraid he's up to something, and he's a rich kid so everything is harder when it comes to that..."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Paul tries to reassure Dawn and she finds his nervous finger tapping on the wheel really cute despite her bad mood.

"I hope so." She lets Paul open the car door for her when they arrive at her apartment and gives her a goodnight before driving off. Dawn, exhaustedly makes her way up to the third floor, ready to take a nice bath and sleep until she physically can't anymore. Putting the key in the lock and twisting the knob, she gives herself an 'I'm home' and-

It's all smashed.

Dawn's eyes widen.

Every bit of furniture, everything that she owned was broken, littering the ground and barely giving her any walking space. Glancing at her kitchen, she even notices the things that came with her apartment was destroyed and she feels her stomach drop to the floor, and she goes with it, collapsing on the floor in tears. Hurriedly, she takes her phone out and presses Paul's number.

"What." She crumbled as soon as she heard him on the other side.

"I, M-my apartment, It's all, Paul I-" She can't even piece a sentence together.

"Dawn- Dawn chill out, I'm turning around right now okay? Just focus on calming down and tell me your apartment number." He sighs and she gives him the number before immediately hanging up.

He gets back in around 10 minutes and she's finished crying by then, thankfully, because Paul's not good with handling emotions. He sees her sitting in the doorway, looking down at the floor and calls out to her. Dawn's head snaps up to look at him through puffy, red eyes. Bypassing her, he peers into her apartment, and his eyes widen as well.

"Jesus, Fuck, What in the world..." He pulls a flashlight out from his belt and turns it on, since the light switch had it's arm broken off. He looks around the apartment for a while for any obvious evidence while Dawn sits on the wall in front of her apartment. After finding nothing, he returns to her and reaches his hand out. She slowly takes it and a few more tears roll down her cheeks as she stands up. He clears a path with his shoes so she can walk in. She looks at him in question.

"Get what you need, you're going to stay with me until I can file a report in the morning."

She nods slowly, walking through to get her necessities, find some clothes that haven't been ripped to shreds, and stuff them all in a bag before being taken to Paul's Town home. He gets her into bed, and asks if she needs anything. She shakes her head, and he gets her a glass of water just in case. While leaving his room to go to the guest room, she calls out to him and he looks back at her.

"Can... You sleep in here with me..." She asks quietly. He turns away from her to sigh, slightly irritated, but turns back to her and agrees, crawling into bed on the opposite side after shutting off the light. Before she closes her eyes, she tells him "Thank you..."

He hums in response.

* * *

 **woops I did a cliché. Possibly because I've been reading a lot of Undertale fics and its a common, but sweet theme to ask to rest together lol.**

 **its once again 4am where i am, but happy new years! i wish you all a good year!**

 **Next chapter will still be mainly fixated on Dawn, but we'll get some progress on Misty as well, possibly depending on what I'll write!**

 **Keep those reviews coming! I love yall so much aaaaaa**

 **-ACCEL**


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